Five Minutes in Business
September/October Edition
Quick Breakdown
Facebook and JP Morgan are meeting with global central banks to discuss cryptocurrencies.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announces that the U.S. is considering the institution of a new 50-year bond next year.
President Donald Trump declares on Twitter that the FED “boneheads” should cut interest rates and refinance debt.
Chinese citizens are calling on policy-makers to aid the slowing economy as fixed-asset investment in China slows and government investment in the private sector continues to wane.
President Donald Trump postponed the augmented tariffs on Chinese goods as “new talks” emerged between the two governments. The proposed increase would raise a 25% tax on Chinese imports to a 30% tax.
Monthly Highlight
BRENT CRUDE OIL PRICES SPIKE IN RESPONSE TO SAUDI ARABIAN OIL OUTAGE
Weekend drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthi Rebels on Saudi Arabian oil production facilities resulted in the loss of almost 5.7 million barrels of brent crude oil (the most popular oil used for gasoline). Saudi Arabia is overwhelmingly the largest exporter of oil in the world, holding the second largest oil reserves in the world behind Venezuela. Clearly, disruptions in critical production infrastructure can have immense ramifications on the supply and prices of crude oil around the world. Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Arabian government are scrambling to stabilize their largest industry, and the world is watching with perturbed eyes. According to analysis from Goldman Sachs, brent crude oil could reach $75 a barrel if the outage sustains past 6 weeks (currently priced at $65 a barrel two days after the attacks).
US oil prices incurred the largest single-day spike in a decade, rising 15% on monday (September 16th). Consequently, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to condemn the Iranian government for the attacks. This quickly stopped, replaced by Trump’s announcement authorizing the release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve if conditions worsened. Intensified conflict is brewing on the horizon in the Middle East, with reserves of “liquid gold” sitting right in the middle of it.
Start-Up Spotlight
Calypso AI
The recent rise in evolving AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies has incentivized the need for extensive protection from cyber threats and hacking. Companies spending multi-millions on AI research and its implementation into new products have created high levels of demand for AI cybersecurity measures. But there's only one problem: no such niche program has existed. Until now.
President & COO Steve Holton
Co-founder & CEO Neil Serebryany
A new and exciting company based in Los Angeles, CALYPSO AI uses cybersecurity systems to protect AI from aggressive cyber-attacks. CALYPSO AI’s team monitors the security within AI systems and consults clients on “legal, ethical, and operational” risks potentially found in their AI. CALYPSO’s experts test the AI for vulnerability and unwanted bias, and eventually model clients’ AI systems for optimization in cyber-protection. Still not impressed? CALYPSO also claims to have the keys to revolutionary deep-learning methods: the field of machine learning concerned with emulating the human brain in data processing and pattern recognition. This ambitious company has immense potential; trailblazing the industry that will dominate the market in upcoming years. Pushed by an increasingly monetized digital age, AI and cybersecurity will be an extremely interesting development to track in both the private and public sectors in the next few decades.
MARKET PERFORMANCE (AS OF MARKET CLOSE, SEPTEMBER 15th)
S&P 500 IN THE LAST MONTH (AS OF SEPTEMBER 16TH)